It was a movie weekend for me! How many did I watch this weekend? Five. FIVE. My boyfriend and I did watch some anime episodes on Saturday, sure. But Five movies for me is a lot.

Naruto. Sasuke caught up with Naruto and Jiraiya after hearing that his brother, Itachi, was after Naruto. Sasuke has been training hard to kill his brother. But at this point, he was still not strong enough to take on his brother. Not surprised, Itachi was something else. He was of a different breed. We got a bit of some backstory about the brother, and why Itachi did what he did. But I felt like it was still very superficial. “To measure my ability” sounded like bullshit to me.

Parasyte. Progression was good. The anime successfully showed the changes in Izumi and how the people around him notice it. And tells him about it. I have some opinions on this that would be fleshed out in my anime reactions post for this one. The one that really annoyed me however was Yuko Kimishima’s decision to confront Shimada alone instead of telling her brother about him. “Oh he’s not normal, I saw it. He has a fake face.” She asks her brother about these things. Then says, “I’ll talk to Shimada about it.” Really? Honestly, I had to keep telling myself that these characters are kids. And do not know any better. But damn.

Bungo Stray Dogs. My hun said that he was thinking that the anime was a bit slow. And I do understand. So this anime is under evaluation if he wants to drop or not. But since this is my choice of anime, regardless of whether he drops it or not, I want to continue with it. Anyway, sounds like the Port Mafia and the Agency might be joining forces soon to protect their city from the League. I am here for it.

Now we go to the movies. Aside from anime episodes, my boyfriend and I were able to watch Mission: Impossible – Fallout. We finally watched all the available moves in this franchise.

Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018). It was decent. I enjoyed it. But then again, heist movie. So I feel like that is a given that I would like this movie. Anyway, nothing really out of the ordinary. It delivered what it wanted to do. Of course, I guessed who Henry Cavill’s character is. That was fine, it didn’t really hinder my enjoyment of the movie.

So yesterday, I was feeling slightly off and feeling a bit exhausted so I decided to make a Sunday afternoon of watching movies.

Accepted (2006). This was a rewatch for me. I mean, this was definitely not revolutionary. But it would be nice to actually have freeform learning like this in real life. And still be an accredited institution. One can dream. Imagine not having to take classes that you don’t really want OR need. And actually have a personalized academic route. But alas, I really do not think that this would fly and be recognized as an actual form of learning. The formal educational system is a bit too rigid for this.

That’s Amor (2022). I enjoyed this one. I mean, a guy who can cook? Sign me up. I just have issues with insta-love. I just felt like it was too quick. However, I did appreciate the growth I saw in Sofia. I mean, she made a decision that was out of her comfort zone.

Love in the Villa (2022). I remember wanting this kind of romance. Go to a foreign country and meet someone and fall in love. Yeah. Insta-love? Sure. This was not bad. What is more romantic than finding love in Verona? In a villa overlooking the balcony of Juliet? This love story of course follows the close proximity and enemies-to-lovers trope. To be honest, if there was a double booking issue and I am in a different country, no way in hell I would be sharing a villa with a stranger. I am way too scared for that. I do not trust people. The movie was cute though. Especially when they started to actually talk and be friendly with each other.

Wedding Season (2022). This is a fake-dating trope. I think this was the one that I enjoyed the most out of the 3 rom-coms I watched. I mean, I was invested. I think it was most likely because of the fact that on some level, being Asian myself, I felt this pressure of getting married and having a family at a certain age. Also on top of that, the pressure of upholding tradition. Being the traditional female of a construct. So yeah, I felt this movie to a point. I mean the male MC has issues with this dad too because he chose a non-traditional lifestyle and career. What made this movie for me though was the progression of Asha and Ravi’s relationship. It was very natural.

I just did chores today. I was too tired after working out this morning. I had some issues with the exercises, especially during weight training. My shoulders and thighs were definitely shaky the whole time.

Well, yesterday was productive by my standards. Studied. Worked out. And studied some more. Nothing really more noteworthy than that. I felt good yesterday.

I did watch some movies with Chris last night – two Fil-Am movies.

Bitter Melon (2018). This movie is a dark comedy about a Filipino family living in Bay Area. The story was good. The premise was intriguing. It covered abuse and generational trauma. And how it could affect not just the abused, but the people around the abuse and the future generations. Chris and I were triggered at times. I mean, aside from how it covered how men treat women, it also explored toxic masculinity in a toxic household.

The Fabulous Filipino Brothers (2021). This movie focused on four brothers from a Filipino-American family living in California. Apparently, this was influenced by the Basco siblings’ own experience growing up with their family and the Fil-Am community. This movie starred real-life siblings, the Basco siblings. Yes, the four Basco brothers have a sister! That was a surprise for us too. Anyway, the movie was good. We enjoyed it. We laughed, we cringed, and we looked at each other to say “WTF”. We loved it. The acting was on point, not just from the siblings but from the supporting cast as well. Anyway, I was really glad that I finally watched it.

I was partially productive today. I was having issues with some ear pain today, so I could barely focus on anything. Anyway, I still managed to get a little bit of studying done. Not a lot. But still something. So when the afternoon hit, I just decided to stay in bed and rest.

My man and I were able to watch some anime today. Which was great.

Naruto. I am pretty excited for this arc honestly. Jiraiya took over Naruto’s care for now. Akatsuki was introduced. Itachi was back in Konoha, and looking for Naruto, well the nine tails to be exact. I cannot wait for more revelations and developments.

Bungo Stray Dogs. This was getting messy with the introduction of The League. I cannot wait to see where this goes considering that the agency is stuck between a rock and a hard place right now.

Parasyte. This one was just WOW. The episodes that we watched were definitely something. I was shocked. But then again, this anime has not failed to shock me.

I cooked a bunch of veggies today! What? Me cooking veggies? I cooked a bunch of spinach, sauteed in fresh garlic and olive oil. Roasted some broccoli, cauliflower, potatoes, and carrots in the oven, just seasoned with a little bit of salt, pepper, and garlic powder. They were good. The spinach was gone now. But I still have some of the others left. So that was good. Tomorrow, I need to cook some quinoa.

I was able to sit down and do some of my classes today. So I felt a bit productive for sure. I needed some refresher on Data Science. I’ve been feeling a bit rusty. After that, I want to do some Python classes. But that would be on the back burner.

I also fixed my schedule. I needed to block my hours on what to do and when to do them. Unfortunately, I am one of those people who needs a bit of structure in my day, or else it will just go to waste. I figured, since I am kind of motivated right now, I might as well do it. I am tired of just sitting around without aim on a daily basis.

My hun and I were able to hang out today. We were able to watch a couple of episodes of Naruto and an episode of Parasyte.

Naruto. We finally got a conclusion on this arc. And yes, I cried. Because why wouldn’t I? The character development of Gaara was much appreciated. That one word “sorry” that he said to Temari and Kankuro was huge for him. We loved it. Naruto’s development was also good. It was just the story that drags.

Parasyte. I really like the balance between Migi and Izumi. Migi with a rational, very emotionless way of thinking. Izumi infuses that with logic and humanity. That could be a perfect partnership for sure.

I have been feeling sick for a bit. So I was just laying in bed, sleeping, browsing TikTok, watching YouTube videos, rewatching movies, reading manhwa and manhua. But mostly, it was me in bed sleeping.

Chris and I went back to Filcuisine over the weekend and we ordered some new stuff! And they were so good. We were glad that we caught them when they were not busy yet. We were the second dine-in customers. It was nice. They were understaffed and super busy. I felt terrible since they were running around. And the kitchen was also busy with all the online orders. But the food was great. No complaints there.

Since I was feeling a lot better, I decided it was time to go back to working out. I was not able to work out last week aside from that Monday. And this time, my boyfriend joined me! It was fun. Different since we were doing it via Discord. But it was good. I had fun. It was nice working out together. After our cardio, he did his exercise program and I did my weight training while staying on Discord the whole time.

I created a page on my Notion to log my workouts. I mean granted, I could’ve easily used a notebook (which I do have blank notebooks for) to log what I eat and what exercises I did. However, I really do not feel like carrying a notebook or having a notebook right next to me. Why? I went digital for the convenience of it. The only thing that I still use pen and paper for was for journaling.

I felt like I would be sore again. I would not be surprised since I only worked out once last week, on top of not working out in a long time. Also, I found out last week that I needed heavier weights when doing my lower extremity workouts so I increased it today. And yes, I was feeling it on my legs today. Which was good!

Anyway, no big plans tonight. Probably just read. Hopefully a book. Not that I’m complaining about the media I was consuming heavily lately. I just want to actually read a book.

Today was just not good for me. Headache and all that. My boyfriend and I were only able to watch one movie today. I was feeling a bit off as well. So that was not a good combo.

Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation (2015). You know what? This might be my favorite out of the five Mission Impossible movies. I mean sure, it was still a heist movie to the core but it felt a bit different from the other ones.

My hun said that there were not as many cliches in this movie compared to the other ones. Anyway, I cannot wait to watch the Fallout.

No big plans tonight. Like I said, I’m sporting a headache and for some reason, I feel really tired. I did start reading The Chronicles of Narnia. I had to drop Know My Name. Not the book’s fault at all. I was having difficulty with the subject matter. So I decided to put it down – again. I need to find a couple of nonfiction books. Hopefully, I get to go through the whole Narnia series. This would knock out the “read a classic” and “finish a series” reading challenges for this year.

I hate getting a late start on errands. I have no one else to blame but myself really. I overslept this morning and I got to Costco almost a couple of hours after they opened. And it was crowded. I was not a happy camper. I was getting annoyed since some people cannot navigate their freaking carts properly. You would think it’s foolproof but apparently not. Anyway, really, it was just the crowd that gets to me each time. The lines were too long, there were too many people in each aisle, and moving around with a cart in a crowded place could get really frustrating. On top of that, I was not able to get my rotisserie chicken.

Anyway, aside from that, my Saturday was good. My boyfriend and I were able to watch a couple of movies and an anime episode.

Eclipse (2010). I decided to torture my boyfriend and had him watch the Twilight movies with me. I knew for a fact that he would not like this, but I did back in the day. And um, yeah. This was really painful to watch. And it dragged. As you see, this was the third movie already, because we had the first two last year. I do have mercy and do not let him sit and watch the movies back to back or every week or else this series would’ve been done already. And as no surprise, he did not like this. I was just glad that he at least humored me and said yes to watching the movies. I mean, I could rant and hate on this series but I did like them once upon a time. And I would be doing my younger self a disservice if I did such a thing. There is a reason why refused to reread the books. Because I knew I would say, “Roma, what the fuck were you smoking when you enjoyed this?”

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017). Surprisingly, I had fun with this movie. I was never interested in this movie before since I never watched the original Jumanji. We appreciated the easter eggs from the original movie. I was initially annoyed with that Bethany character. Cause who wouldn’t? But Jack Black did a great job portraying that character when she got sucked into the game. Kevin Hart was given to be funny – I enjoyed his moments that seemed improvised. My hun said that he appreciated this movie more when we watched it together compared to the first time he watched it. I loved the fact that it was a video game setting because it’s very timely, and let’s just say that a board game is a bit outdated. Nick Jonas was a surprise. And yes, I am interested in watching the sequel, Jumanji: The Next Level.

We did watch an episode of High Card. Nothing really happened much. I think the anime was starting to set up the finale for the first season. We were both feeling a bit tired after this one so we decided to stop there. I especially felt really tired as soon as we hung up. So I just really want to relax tonight.